Fairy Bad Day (12 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

F
or the first time since the explosion in the food court, Emma realized that all eyes weren’t on her as she hurried across to the cafeteria to where her friends were both sitting. Which in turn meant that her fight last night must’ve gone by undetected. Thank goodness for Northern California’s early-evening fog and gloom.

Tyler shook his head so that his red hair scattered in all directions. “Well?” she demanded the minute she sat down. “Did you find anything out?”

“Sorry, Em. There was nothing. I even tried sweet-talking Gretchen, but unfortunately she appears to be completely unbribable.”

“You tried to bribe Gretchen the librarian?” Emma said.

“
‘Tried’
being the operative word.” Tyler let out a disappointed sigh. “I figured since Brenda is always walking around with old-fashioned-looking leather books, there must be some secret stash that was reserved for really brainy people, or really sneaky ones. But apparently not.”

“But don’t worry,” Loni added, no doubt catching Emma’s look of frustration. “Because I have an idea. It’s been really bugging me all night about how the darkhel even got into Burtonwood. Twice. I mean, this place is warded up to the hilt, so technically it shouldn’t have been here.”

“Hence the conundrum.” Emma tapped the table in frustration. “Since that’s the reason why Kessler doesn’t believe me—well, that and the fact that this thing apparently doesn’t exist. But then again, the little fairies don’t seem to be affected by wards either, which is why they can come and go so freely at the mall.”

“Yes, but we have a lot more wards at Burtonwood than they have at the mall,” Loni pointed out. “The double Windsor alone pumps out so much voltage that it should fry any elemental within a three-mile radius, and we have twenty of them dotted around the boundaries, which is why I’m wondering if the darkhel has managed to interfere with one of them.”

“Is that even possible?” Emma frowned and tried to remember everything she had learned in her Ward Building class. I mean, aren’t the wards designed so that elementals can’t tamper with them?”

“Yes, as a rule,” Loni said, “but since we don’t know anything about the darkhel, we really don’t know what it’s capable of. You said it had talons, but it also sounded like it was pretty dexterous. I don’t suppose you noticed if it had opposable thumbs?”

Emma stared at her blankly.

“No, I didn’t think so,” Loni quickly added. “Anyway, I thought I should go and make sure that everything’s okay with all the wards.”

“You can do that?” Now it was Tyler’s turn to look surprised.

“I can.” Loni grinned as she pulled out a small map of what looked like the entire Burtonwood grounds. “Who knew it would be so handy that I spent all that time tagging after the tech guys watching them do their maintenance. Anyway, all I need to do is slip into the workroom at lunchtime and get my hands on an analyzer. It will tell me if the electromagnetic field is still working and at what voltage it is pumping out the positive electrons. As long as it’s over fifty volts, then the wards are working. Simple.”

“You know, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Loni’s just a bucket of plutonium away from being an evil genius.” Tyler grinned.

“Ignore him,” Loni advised as she gave Tyler a friendly shove. “Because the important thing is that we’re going to get to the bottom of this. I know we are. We’ve just got to stay positive.”

By the end of the day Emma realized that just because a person wanted to figure something out didn’t mean the person
would
figure something out. Not that she’d really had much of a chance, since between going to classes and her after-school detention, her time hadn’t exactly been her own. But if she didn’t get some answers soon, there was a strong chance that her head might explode.

Thankfully, after two long and laborious hours, a grimlooking Professor Vanderbilt finally got to her feet and said that everyone in the detention room could go. Emma didn’t need to be told twice, and she hurried over to the library, where Loni had been researching the darkhel. Her friend was waiting outside the entrance idly flipping a tiny ward up and down in the air.

“Tyler’s stuck with Glen Lewis talking about their assignment but he’s going to meet me at the cafeteria in half an hour so he can help me check the wards,” Loni told her as she pocketed the ward. “How are you dealing?”

“I’m fine, aside from the fact that I’m going completely and utterly insane—of course,” Emma added as the light started to fade and the temperature felt cool against her cheeks. “Still, at least I managed to get my homework done. Though why a slayer needs to learn accounting I’ll never know.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone kill a goblin by knowing how to depreciate an asset over a ten-year period,” Loni agreed as she reached out and gave Emma’s hand a comforting squeeze. “And hang in there. We’ll find something out. I know we will.”

“Will we?” Emma paused for a moment, her frustration descending like the surrounding fog. She thrust her hands into her blazer pockets to keep them warm. “It just makes no sense, Lon. This is my mom we’re talking about. So how does this . . . this . . .
thing
know anything about her? I can’t bear the thought of her having any sort of secret, separate life. I need to find out what went on.”

“And you will,” Loni insisted before she thoughtfully bit her lower lip. “But you know, there’s something we haven’t considered. I mean, if the darkhel knew your mom, maybe your mom knew the darkhel?”

“Except my mom’s dead, so we can’t exactly ask her,” Emma reminded her friend.

Loni shook her short, spiked hair. “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just... remember when you first took me back to your house just after we both started at the Academy?”

Emma nodded. Loni had been homesick like crazy and her parents had both been off on a mission in Africa, trying to hunt down a rogue demon, and so Emma’s dad had invited her to come over on a Saturday. Something that had been repeated many times over the years until Emma’s mom died and Emma had stopped going home herself, preferring to spend most of her weekends and holidays at Burtonwood.

“Well,” Loni continued, “your mom took me into her study and she had a zillion ancient-looking books, and I clearly remember her telling me that some of them were the only copies available in the whole world.”

“You think that one of them might mention the darkhel?” Emma asked as a sense of hope started to swell up in her. Loni was right: her mom had a seriously big collection of books, and while she hadn’t been what Emma would call a meticulous note taker, there had been times when she had seen her mom scribbling in a small leather-bound book. However, another thought suddenly occurred to her, and Emma felt her hope slide away like a leaf down a stream. “But I can’t get them.” She groaned. “I’m on detention, remember? I can’t leave campus.”

Just then the alarm on her cell phone beeped and she absently stared at the screen. It was the reminder that she had put in yesterday. The one to tell her she was supposed to meet Curtis in fifteen minutes to work on their assignment.

Emma was just about to delete it, but before she could, Loni, who was leaning over her shoulder to read the message, let out a little squeak of excitement. “That’s it. You already have your pass-out. You just need to ask Curtis if he minds if you swing by your house on the way the back from doing your assignment.”

“What?” Emma yelped in surprise as her last encounter with Curtis suddenly flashed into her mind—with particular emphasis on the fact that she had mistakenly thought he was going to kiss her.

“It’s perfect,” Loni insisted in an excited voice. “You’re allowed off campus for your assignment. So, just make a pit stop afterward. Tell her it’s perfect, Tyler.”

“It’s perfect, Tyler,” Tyler dutifully repeated as he approached them with a bulging backpack slung over his shoulder. “I’m not sure what we’re talking about, but she’s got her Taurus-girl face on and you know what she’s like when she gets like that.”

Loni ignored him as she turned her attention back to Emma and softened her expression. “Look, I get that you probably don’t want to speak to him after what happened yesterday, but—”

“Yesterday? So what happened yesterday?” Tyler piped up. “Oh, I bet you told Curtis that you never wanted to speak to him again. Ten bucks says I’m right. Yes?”

However, the two girls just ignored him as Loni lowered her voice and squeezed Emma’s hand. “The thing is, despite how you feel, this is your best chance of finding out about the darkhel. Besides, it’s not like you can get out of doing the assignment. Not unless you want to make Kessler even more mad than he already is.”

“I know, you’re right,” Emma reluctantly agreed. Not because she thought it was a good idea to spend any more time than was necessary with Curtis—or because she really wanted to face going home—but because Tyler was right. Loni’s normally placid, heart-shaped face was pinched into a stubborn, bullish expression that Emma had long come to know, and she quickly realized that the chances of her friend dropping the subject were slim to none. And at least on the positive side, she wouldn’t be wearing a tie, so Curtis wouldn’t be tempted to straighten it again.

“Good.” Loni grinned.

“But,” Emma added, “if I’m going out with Curtis, then you guys need to promise that you’ll be careful when you’re checking those wards. The last thing I want is for either of you to get in any trouble. One dysfunctional, out-of-favor slayer is probably enough for now.”

“We’ll be careful,” Loni promised as she gave her a fierce hug. “And good luck with your mom’s books. I have a really good feeling about this.”

Emma nodded. But she wished she shared her friend’s confidence that it would all be okay.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

J
ones, I’d almost given up on you,” Curtis said fifteen minutes later as they swiped their pass-outs and the security guard ushered them through the gate. Curtis looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. In fact, he was probably congratulating himself on managing to escape her tacky and humiliating invitation to join her at the practice range yesterday.

He was dressed in standard slaying clothes, and the black, well-fitted top seemed to mold to his chest. Emma found herself unconsciously smoothing down her own matching black top as she tried to remember if she’d brushed her hair this morning.

However, the sight of the Burtonwood minibus parked just in front of them caused her to forget about her appearance as she realized that this was a fatal flaw in her plan. For some stupid reason she was thinking they would be catching a taxi and it would be a simple matter of just paying the driver to make a detour. But now that was clearly impossible, since whatever she said to the driver would go from his mouth to Kessler’s ear. Which meant that she would have to text Loni and get her to arrange for a taxi to pick her up once the minibus dropped her off.
Not to mention asking Curtis to cover for her.

It will be easy.
Loni’s words came back to her just as Curtis pushed back the sliding door and ushered her in. There was a group of seniors already spread out across the backseat of the bus, on their way to a selkie scouting mission farther past the lakes at the river’s head. They shot Emma a curious glance as she made her way to a window seat as far away from them as possible. Curtis followed her in and awkwardly lowered himself down, propping up his crutches on the spare seat just as the bus drove off into the night.

“Hey, are you okay?” he suddenly asked as he unzipped his slaying kit and pulled out the familiar yellow folder that they were using for the assignment. “You’ve hardly said a word, which—no offense—isn’t like you at all.”

“I’m fine,” she quickly assured him while taking great pains not to look at him, since no good ever seemed to come from doing that. “It’s just been a long day. That’s all.”

“And going out dragon hunting with me isn’t your ideal way to spend the night.” He finished off her sentence in a dry voice, his jaw clenched slightly.

“Something like that,” she mumbled, still managing to avoid his gaze. Then, as much to distract herself as anything else, she pulled out her cell phone and sent Loni a quick text, telling her about the change of plans and asking her to arrange for a taxi to meet her at the parking lot where the minibus would be dropping them off.

Loni replied immediately.
Done. And don’t 4get 2 b nice 2 C.

Emma rolled her eyes, put her cell phone away, and turned her attention to the darkening skies outside the bus. She and Curtis made the rest of the trip in silence.

A while later, the minibus slowly pulled up to a small tree-lined parking lot at the edge of a large lake just off the highway. There was a tall streetlamp and an overflowing trash can next to some badly maintained public restrooms. There was also a taxi parked by a tree, its engine idling. Emma glanced out the window at it as she waited for the minibus to come to a stop. She was just congratulating herself on successfully ignoring Curtis for most of the trip when he suddenly made a clicking noise with his tongue, while behind them the seniors were busy discussing the best thermal imager to use when scouting selkies.

“Okay, Jones, so are you going to spill it?”

“Spill what?” She blinked in what she hoped was an innocent expression.

“What’s going on,” he suggested in a mild voice.

“Nothing,” she said. “Why would something be going on?”

“Because you’ve been acting weird the whole time in the minibus, and now you keep looking out the window over at that taxi, which I don’t think is sitting there by accident. Is there something you want to tell me?”

No,
Emma longed to say since he already knew far too much about her life, thanks to their trip to the mall the other day. And it didn’t matter how kind he seemed to be; it didn’t alter the fact that he had the one thing she wanted.

She sighed.

“Okay, fine. I sort of have a favor to ask. I need to go and pick up some stuff at my dad’s house, but because I’m on detention this is the only chance I have to get it. I hate to ask.”
Like really, really hate to ask.
“But would you mind covering for me? I promise I’ll be back before twenty-two hundred hours.”

“What stuff?”

“Um, just stuff.”

“Hello, back there, anytime tonight would be nice.” The bus driver coughed, and they realized he was waiting for them to get off. Curtis retrieved his crutches and they made their way to the front while the driver studied his schedule. “Okay. It says here that you’re doing observation and reconnaissance only, so no slaying. I’ll be back for you at twenty-two hundred hours on the dot. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Curtis and Emma both said as the bus pulled back out onto the highway. Once it had gone, Emma turned back to Curtis and shot him a hopeful look.

“So? Will you cover for me?”

“You want me to cover for you, but you don’t want to tell me why?” he asked with a hint of annoyance.

“Curtis, please. It’s complicated.”

“I’m a smart guy, Jones. I’m sure I’ll keep up. What’s going on?”

Emma gritted her teeth and regretted that she had ever allowed Loni to talk her into this. Then, catching the way his jawline was as tight as a guitar string, she let out a sigh. He wasn’t going to give up. “Okay, fine. Remember the darkhel? Well, he sorta attacked me last night and—”

“What?” The words exploded out of his mouth like a bullet, and Emma almost expected to hear them echoing around the otherwise silent parking lot. She looked at him in surprise but the easy, lopsided smile that normally hovered close to his mouth had disappeared and was replaced by a tight slit of a line. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? When did it happen? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, and I didn’t tell you because there was nothing you could do about it,” she retorted, and instantly regretted her words when his whole face turned into a mask of stone. He tightened his jaw and turned away for a second. However, a moment later he turned back to her and the darkness had gone, though his knuckles were snow white and strained as they gripped his crutches.

“You still could’ve told me,” he finally said.

She softened her voice. “Look, I’m okay. It attacked me last night in the quad. Thankfully, almost everyone was at dinner and it was pretty foggy, so I don’t think anyone saw.
Well, I don’t think anyone saw me,
” she corrected as she explained that once again the darkhel had been invisible to all but her. “The thing is, it’s not like any other elemental I’ve ever fought. If Loni hadn’t come along with her subsonic blaster, I’m not sure what would’ve happened.”

Curtis paused for a moment and rubbed his hands through his blond curls, his face looking suddenly tired. “I guess it was lucky she was there to help. So what did Kessler say?” But when she didn’t answer, he let out a long groan.
“You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“You know why I couldn’t.” She looked at him before taking a deep breath. “The thing is, the darkhel spoke to me. It told me that I fought just like my mother.”

Curtis’s dark eyes widened, and for a moment as he looked like he was having some sort of internal battle with himself, but whatever he had been wanting to say seemed to be lost, and instead he straightened himself to his full height and said in a businesslike voice, “So what can I do to help?”

“Loni and Tyler spent all last night at the library but still couldn’t find a thing on the darkhel. That’s why I need to go back to my house. My mom had a really big collection of one-of-a-kind elemental books. I’m hoping there will be something there.” Her voice probably sounded a bit gruffer than she had intended, but it was only because his own change of tone had caused such an overwhelming sense of relief that she suddenly felt like crying. However, she quickly jabbed her nails into the fleshy part of her palm and managed to regain her composure. Slayers didn’t cry. She didn’t cry.

Curtis started to swing his way toward where the taxi was still waiting. “So you need to get the books and get back here before the minibus comes to pick us up.”

“That’s right . . .
and Curtis, thanks,
” she said as she swallowed hard. She seemed to be saying that a lot to him lately.

“It’s no big deal.” He gave a dismissive shrug as he came to a halt next to the taxi and held the back door open for her. She slid in and had just given the driver her dad’s address when she realized that Curtis had made his way around to the other side of the taxi and was trying to maneuver himself, his crutches, and his slaying kit into the cramped space next to her. Finally, he was settled and he reached to put on his seat belt.

“What are you doing? You don’t have to come with me. I’ll meet you back here,” Emma assured him as she rubbed her sore eye.

He shook his head. “Nope, I don’t think so.”

“But, Curtis—” she started to explain.

“Yes, Jones?” He cut her off with a serene smile, which reminded her why he was so annoying. She took a deep breath and tried again.

“Can’t you just go and look for the troubadour dragons and do the assignment?” she urged, but he merely shook his head.

“Strangely enough, I’m not really in the mood for doing my assignment. Probably because you got attacked by something that no one else can see, and part of me thinks it might not be the best thing to let you go there alone.” He turned to the driver. “Okay, we can go.”

“But I’m the only one who can see the darkhel, so even if it did attack me again, you couldn’t help,” she pointed out, and for a moment Curtis’s face froze again before he gave her a tight shrug.

“All the same, I’m coming,” he replied. Then he paused. “Actually, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. It’s about what happened yesterday outside the simulation labs.”

“Oh.” Her face started to heat up. “You mean with the tie?”

“I mean, how you asked if I wanted to go to the practice range,” he clarified.

“R-right.” Emma suddenly decided that it might be a good idea to study the handle of her slaying kit, since reliving humiliating experiences wasn’t exactly her number one hobby.

“The thing is—” He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. “It’s not that I didn’t want to go with you, it’s just the practice range isn’t really my thing. I find it easier to fight in the simulation labs.”

Emma looked at him and blinked in surprise, since of all the things she thought he might say, that wasn’t one of them. “So that’s why you said no?”

“Sure.” He nodded, then his expression turned confused. “Why else?”

“Er, no reason.” She blinked as she realized that Curtis must be the only student at Burtonwood who didn’t know what “going to the practice range” was code for, but before she could say anything else, the taxi suddenly turned onto a quiet suburban street and too late she realized that she had been so focused on her conversation with Curtis that she was now woefully unprepared for her visit.

The taxi slowed down and came to a halt. Emma felt something catch in her throat as she stared out at the pale wood veneer and teak trim of the house on Larnark Road. It was the place she had grown up, but it no longer felt like home.

“Are you okay?” Curtis asked from beside her.

“I’m fine,” Emma said, a little bit too quickly, as she busied herself getting out of the taxi, hoping he couldn’t see her reaction. Curtis followed. She didn’t even like telling Loni about her dad, so she was hardly going to talk to Curtis about him, even if they were friends now. Especially because to the outside world her dad was a pretty decent guy. Cheerful, happy, supportive.
Capable of transferring his affections from her mom to Olivia less than a year after her mom had died.

Then without saying another word she hurried up the path and knocked on the door of the place she had once called home.